jews and jewish education in germany today - The Westbury Group

In daily Community life it’s not that easy, admittedly. There are obvious tensions in some of the
Communities, especially when veterans, most of whom are themselves immigrants from the generation
before, feel pushed to the sidelines by the newcomers. But my general impression is that in the last few years
the relations have improved a lot. Both sides have understood that they need each other, and they’re trying to
work together. For example, in some Communities people share a space for the Russian-speaking senior’s
club and the German-speaking senior’s club and there are also spaces where it mixes.
Only to focus on the Russian- speaking immigrants does not make sense because the anchor into the larger
society is obviously the German-speaking population. To take an example from the Community in Weiden 4 :
there are very few German-speakers, but the president has always been a German speaker. This will change
in the long run, because now the children of the Russian immigrants are German speakers in every respect,
and that’s fine.
In the younger generation, people will just intermingle. There is considerable inter-marriage between
German-speaking Jews from German origin and from Russian origin. In the Jewish schools, mixing works
very well. The problem of inter-cultural tensions will become obsolete within the next 20 years, obviously.
● Do you still see a difference in the religiosity in both groups?
Yes, I would say so. Immigrants from the former Soviet Union come with very little religious background
and even an anti-religious background, and some of them really regret that. There is a feeling that the damage
has been done and that it cannot be repaired. For example, in Weiden I had a congregant, a Russian Jew in his
late 70’s, and he said to me, “Gesa, I will attend the synagogue every Shabbat to help to make the minyan,
but I’m a complete atheist, and you don’t need to teach me because you will not succeed. Unfortunately, you
will not make me a religious person, but please take care of my grandchildren.” I think that’s an amazing step
of self-perception and of caring for the grandchildren and their children’s religiosity. And that’s my
experience at large. Therefore it would be a great project to work with a grandparents-grandchildrencombination,
because both have time. Grandparents do care about Jewish continuity for their lives, not for
themselves, but for their grandchildren, so that’s an important piece of work.
Let me add another thing: There are also Jewish people with an East German background, and very often
they find themselves in a coalition with the Russian immigrants in terms of socialist mentality and
upbringing. But what I see more and more is also such people coming back to Judaism with some Jewish
identity within the family, and that’s an important piece also to bring them the variety of Judaism.
● How would you describe the current relations between religious and non-religious Jews in Germany?
Well, it’s a fact that most Jews will not describe themselves as religious. Look at the synagogues on Shabbat,
that’s the obvious answer. We need to respect that in a full sense, which means to take a very intellectual
approach to religion, and to accept where people stand and where they come from. That’s a main challenge,
to really address religion and tradition on a high intellectual level, and also to accept that within the
continuum of Jewish identity there is such a thing as non-religious Judaism. Some people might be interested
in Jewish education, but not in religion. That’s ok, too.
● Some people are talking about a new pluralism in German Jewry. Do you see this? And if so, what are its
key elements?
Yes, I share this optimistic view. I see that there is an enormous, growing acceptance in terms of pluralism.
There are spaces like the Limmud Festival, and I think it’s very important to create and to further develop
4 The Jewish Community where Rabbi Gesa Ederberg worked before she moved to Berlin.
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